Pretzels and Nightmares
by JesusLover14
Summary: So this is my first story for Fanfiction so I would LOVE any feedback you have to help me out : I was reading everybogy elses and it got me inspired.  It starts when Parker was talking to Hardison about Pretzels and then the rest is all me :  Enjoy!
1. Confessions and the Nightmare

Chapter 1

Parker looked at Hardison's loving brown eyes, whenever she looked at them she thought she would get lost, so always broke the connection before she wanted to. "I think… I think I'm having unusual feelings for…" she paused and looked up, suddenly all the confidence she had was gone. Her mind scrambled to find something to say, why doesn't she just come out and say it? Why can't she say she's in… That's the thing, she doesn't know WHAT she's feeling, and she just knows she's feeling something she has never felt before. Her childhood was full of abandonment and suffering, not one of love. All she knows is whenever she's with him, she gets a weird feeling in her stomach, her heart beats faster, and she can't help but blush a little. Parker looks down at the bar table, and sees pretzels in the bowl, just waiting to be eaten. "Pretzels." Looking up from her hands, she sees Hardison looking at her with care. "Well, pretzels will always be here for you, and wait for you until you're ready." He smiled, tapped the table with his knuckled, downed his beer, and left the bar. Stunned at what he said, Parkers brain was telling her to chase him, but her body was not letting for budge from her seat. Then, she bolted, out the door and down the street. "Hardison!" She screamed, seeing his black skin blend with the cool, dark night. Running as fast as she could, she saw his figure turn to face her, frozen in his spot. When she finally reached him, she was out of breath, "Hard...Hardison, I don't like pretzels like that." His face was full of confusion, not quite getting what she was blabbering on about. "I just panicked, and I didn't say what I was trying to say." Suddenly, she felt him touch her arm, when she looked, he smiled. "I know you'll tell me what you mean when you feel completely and utterly ready." He turned to leave, sadness covering his face, only because it meant she wasn't completely ready for him.

Chapter 2

Again, Parker was stunned at his response. Why wasn't he pushing to know the answer? Why hadn't he said, "Dammit Parker!" Like Elliot did. Then she knew, it's because he was Hardison, not Elliot, not Nate, and not Sophie, Hardison, the person she could always know was there when she needed someone to lean on and to tell what was bothering her, the one who didn't push, and let her do things on her own time (unless they were on a case). That's when she knew, this is what love felt like. Running again to catch up with Hardison who, while she was thinking about all this, had continued his walk to his apartment. She had gotten all the way to his apartment and knocked on the door. "Hello who is i…" His sentence got cut off due to Parkers lips crushed against his. At first he was shocked, and wasn't responding to the kiss. Thinking this meant he didn't feel the same way, Parker quickly stopped, quietly apologized, and turned to leave, only to be grabbed by the arm and turned around. His lips came into contact with hers and there was no going back.

Chapter 3

That night they watched Doctor who and Star trek all night, not needing to get all mushy yet, they just wanted to enjoy each other's company. Parker was curled into Hardisons side, with her feet curled under the end of the couch. Hardison had her arm around her, not wanted to let her go, and his head on top of hers. Parker closed her eyes at around 1 in the morning not wanted to fall asleep because it might mean having to go home. She felt Hardisons chest go up and down, and his heart beat at an even pace, and his breath hit the top of her head. Hardison heard Parker sigh, and look down. Her flowing blond hair covering his arm while her arm was on his lap. She looked so peaceful. He kissed the top of her head and felt her relax, and then feel her breathing turn to a calming pace, she had fallen asleep. Not wanting to walk her, he thought about either leaving her on the couch or picking her up and bringing her to his bed. After little thought, he gently picked her up and carried her to his room. She woke up, and moaned, he whispered in her ear, "Shh its ok I got you, don't worry, go back to sleep." Parker raised her hand to his cheek and then kissed it, "Don't leave me, I don't want to be alone." Nodding, he put her on one side of the bed, changed into his Polar bear pajama pants, and got in on the other side. Instantly, Parker rolled over to snuggle with him, and they fell asleep like that, wrapped in each other's arms, finally together.

Chapter 4

Parker dreamed, and when she dreamed, it wasn't a good dream. They were on the job, trying to take down a corrupt sales company. Hardison was undercover and working close to the owner, trying to get him to invest in their 'fast food company'. But they caught scent of his trial, and got his bodyguards to take him to a secure location to, 'teach him a lesson.' She sees him getting punched and kicked, and thrown around the small, cement room. They try to get him to talk, to tell them where the rest of his team is, but he doesn't speak, just looks in the man's eyes, and spits in his face. The man explodes, pushes Hardison against the wall and starts beating the crap outta him, punching his stomach and his face. Finally, he has enough of going 'easy' on him, and takes his right arm. Slowly, he breaks each of his fingers, each time asking who he's working with before breaking the next, but Hardison doesn't speak. She hears him scream in pain as each finger gets destroyed. She tries to scream at them to stop, to get Hardison to tell them where they are, but they don't hear her. The man moves from the right hand to the left, doing the same process. Break, who are you working for, silence, repeat. Parker can't handle it, tears are running down her face and she turns away, afraid of what the outcome will be. After all 8 fingers and 2 thumbs are broken, he moves to the elbows. Taking hold of either side of Hardisons arm, he pushes hard. Hardison screams at the top of his lungs, tears running down his face. Finally, there's a big crack, and a horrendous scream, and a loud laugh. "Tell us where your team is, and we will spare your other arm." Tears are streaming down Hardisons face, the two men can tell he's trying to stay strong but is slowly breaking. He looks up, determination in his lovely brown eyes, "I will NEVER tell you who my team is, you can break all the bones in my body, hell, you can kill me, but you will never know who my team is." The men are taken aback by this statement, but quickly recover, "You have made a fatal mistake." Then, without warning, the man snaps Hardisons bone in half. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Hardison screams, Parker is crying, she can't stand this, she's forgotten it's a dream, she's forgotten that in reality, Hardison is lying beside her, completely intact. In her dream, the men laugh at Hardisons screams of pain and the tears flowing freely down his cheeks. The man pulls his jacket away, reveling a gun, "Sure you don't want to tell us where your team is?" Hardison looks at what used to be his arms, closes his eyes, and says with all the strength he has left, "Do it." The man smiles, loads the gun, puts it to his head and….

Chapter 5

"NO!" Parker wakes up with a start, tears all over her face and chest. Hardison is already awake, trying to calm her down, "Mama, calm down, shh, it's ok, calm down, it's ok." Smoothing her hair and speaking calming words, he hears Parker trying to speak, "You, he, they, your arm, the gun, the men, con." But her brains so confused nothings coming out right. "Shh babe, I'm right here, calm down, deep breaths, that's it, breath in then out, it's ok Parker, shh calm down everything's fine, shh." Finally she had calmed down enough to speak. "What happened mama? Did you have a bad dream?" That causes Parker to break down again, telling Hardison everything that happened. While she's speaking, Hardison is smoothing out her hair and holding her close, listening intently to what she's saying. Once she's finished, Hardison holds her at arm's length, and makes her look him in the eyes, "Parker, it's ok, I'm right here, I'm not going to leave you, ever, don't worry I'll be safe, come here." He pulls her into a hug, letting her tears fall onto his shirt, just letting her know he's there, and he won't leave until she's ready. After around 45 minutes, she pulled away, wiping the rest of her tears on her hand, "I'm sorry, I've put tear stains on your shirt." He smiles, and says its fine; it's a bedtime shirt anyways. She rises from the bed and walks out to the kitchen; all that crying made her hungry. If you had looked at her, you'd see the tear stains on her cheeks and her puffy red eyes. They ate breakfast on the couch, Hardison not letting go of Parker and just letting her relax into him while she eats her cereal. After a little while, their phones rang, indicating that Nate had picked up another job, so they got cleaned up, and after a long hug, headed hand in hand down to the bar.

Chapter 6

Once everyone had made it to Headquarters, Nate asked Hardison to start the briefing. "Meet Mr. Logan A. Henderson, Owner of a Boston sales company, currently taking thousands of dollars from people around the world and investing in corrupt companies, causing the people to lose all their money. He currently is in Boston, but soon will move to one of his other company's locations, so we have to act fast." Hardison turned to Parker, only to see a horrified look on her face. How could this be, wasn't what I saw just a dream? Hardison could tell something was bothering her, but before he could ask what was wrong, Nate started telling everyone the plan, "Ok guys here's what's going to happen, Hardison, you and Sophie will go undercover and try to get Mr. Henderson to invest in your company, while that's happening, Elliot and Parker, you two will become interested investors in his company, and if everything works out, when he excepts our company and invest lots of money in it, you will invest in us to, and then we will scram. Sound good everyone?" Everyone nodded except Parker, who was in her own little world thinking about this whole thing. "I don't think we should do this," Parker said suddenly, "I don't have a good feeling about this, we should skip it and move onto another case." The team looked at her in shock, what was she talking about? Nate just shrugged this off, "No we will do this case and we will take him down. Hardison, Sophie, get ready, today you go and meet with Mr. Henderson." They nodded and headed out, before Hardison left, he looked at Parker and smiled, as if to say, "Everything will be fine, trust me."

Chapter 7

The next morning Sophie and Hardison went to have a meeting with Mr. Henderson, everything was going relatively smooth, and they could tell he was still being skeptical but they knew after a little bit they would have him. "Mr. Henderson," Sophie said confidently, "My partner and I are leaving for another business in two days; we would like to know your answer by tomorrow so we can discuss details before our departure." She smiled her special and tapped his arm, one of the many ways to get people to do what she's saying. Mr. Henderson looked surprised at this gestured, then smiled, "Well I'll have to look at the fine print but it looks like you have yourself a deal Ms.?" Sophie smiled and said, "Ms. Florentent." "Well Ms. Florentent looks like you have yourself a new partner." Hardison smiled, he loved watching Sophie in action, she might suck on stage, but on a con, she was golden. After a little more chit chat the two quietly left the building. What they didn't know though, was that Mr. Henderson was on his phone talking to his 'security' and telling them that tomorrow morning, Hardison (AKA Mr. Lawson) would be coming with papers to sign and they should take him to the basement to teach him not to try to scam big business owners.

Everyone met at the HQ for a quick debriefing before all departing to their homes. Hardison and Parker walked hand in hand down the street. When they finally got to Hardisons house, they stopped; there was silence because were trying to figure out what to say. "Hardison," Parker said finally, "What are we?" He smiled, looking at her beautiful eyes and sighing, "We are whatever you want us to be." Parker thought about this, what did she want them to be? After many seconds, she looked up and said, "We are Parker and Hardison, and you are my boyfriend." Hardison let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding and smiled, "I can live with that." He leaned down and kissed her gently, and felt Parkers hands rising to his next and deepening the kiss. "Wanna go upstairs and watch some TV or something?" Hardison said breathlessly, "I like watching movies with you." Before she spoke, she led Hardison up the stairs to his door, and then replied with a quiet yes. So they entered the apartment, about to do more than just watch Dr. Who.


	2. Real life horror

**Part 2**

When Parker awoke the next morning, she didn't feel the warmth of Hardison next to her. Sitting up, she heard movement in the kitchen and a delicious scent flowing into the room. She stretched out her arms and yawned before getting out of bed and putting her feet on the cold floor. Hearing the pitter patter of her feet, Hardison smiled and cracked another egg. Her arms wrapped around his waist and she took a deep breath, taking in his scent. It made her feel so, safe. Throughout this whole time, not the relationship but the friendship as well, she realized that not once, had she felt threatened in any way. Hardison turned around and bent his head down to kiss her on the lips.

"Morning Beautiful," He said with a smile, "Have a good sleep?"

"I'm not sure how much sleeping I did but," Parker said with a laugh, "I did have a good night."

He chuckled a low chuckle that sent shivers down her spine.

"I aim to please." He said, looking into her eyes.

"Well now I'm going to start thinking highly of you, which is never a good thing."

They both smiled and just stood there for a moment, enjoying the company of one another. Breaking away sooner than both of them wanted, Hardison stepped back to finish making breakfast. While they made breakfast, they kept sneaking looks at one another, and whenever they got caught they'd just smile and look away. Before long they had finished making and eating breakfast and were on their way to HQ. They walked hand in hand down the sidewalk, just a couple doors away from Nate's house, when Parker stopped. Turning around, Hardison gave her a questioning look.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Parker said looking at her shoes.

"Well it must be something or else we wouldn't have stopped."

"I just don't want to go through with this heist. I think we should back away."

"Parker," Hardison said with a sigh, "Nothing is going to happen, Sophie and I have Mr. Henderson in our grasps, and the only things that will happen are what we want to happen ok?"

He tilted her head up so she would look her in the eyes. "Ok?"

Nodding slightly, he took her hand and led her to the house. When they got there they were the last to arrive, so Nate was a little annoyed.

"Is making your presence such a hassle for you that you can't get here on time?" He gave them an annoyed look before carrying on with what he was saying before they arrived. After the briefing, which they had already heard the previous night, everyone headed to the spots they needed to be at. Hardison looked at Parker and smiled, she smiled back, but he could see that it didn't reach her eyes. That morning everything was going perfectly, Parker and Elliot had made the deal with Mr. Henderson and the transfer was almost complete.

"Ms. Florentent, can I please see you in my office for a moment?" Mr. Henderson said before they started the transfer. "Your partner can stay outside."

"Um sure, is everything ok?"

"Let's just talk in here please."

Sophie followed him into his office, and looked back at Hardison and gave a look he knew meant stay put. And he did so. He stood right next to the wall and waited for the conversation to be over.

"I wonder what they're talking about. Could they have found out about the scam? Oh my god did they do something to Parker and Elliot? I swear to god if they did anything to them there will be a blood bath."

While these thoughts were racing through his brain he didn't notice the 3 guards quickly approaching. When he did notice them he couldn't say a word before something hard made contact to his head and he was engulfed in darkness.

When Hardison awoke he slowly opened his eyes. Tired from the hit, it was only seconds before he blacked out again. Slowly though, his periods of awareness become longer and he could take in his surroundings. He took note of how small the room was, and how it was made out of only cement and then a wooden door. The thing he didn't take note of was the hand with 3 huge rings coming at a fast pace towards his face. Pain spread all over his face. Suddenly there was another, and another, and about 5 more minutes of continuous punching. Hardison thought he was all alone through this, until he heard chaos coming from somewhere. They hadn't taken out his earpiece. Listening closely to anything he could pick up on, he tried to figure out what had happened.

"Where's Hardison?"

"What happened in there Sophie?"

"I don't know one minute I'm in Mr. Henderson's office the next I look in the hall to see Hardison nowhere!"

"We have to find him!"

"Doesn't he have trackers on all the earpieces?"

"Dammit Hardison!"

"Nate we have to find him!"

"Parker calm down I know that! Ok someone needs to go to his computer and find out where he his."

"How do we know they didn't find the earpiece?"

"Hardison? Hardison? If you can hear me I need you to say something, it doesn't even have to be a word."

"Hardison are you there?"

"Hardison I'm so sorry!"

"Everyone shut up in case he can't speak loudly."

There was silence as everyone was wishing, praying, that Hardison would say something to let them know he was alive. Tears were streaming down his face as he heard this all. He knew he couldn't talk for he was afraid they would find the earpiece. So he timed a moan with a punch. He grunted and moaned as loud as he could and then waited for any sign that they heard him.

"Oh my god! Hardison are you ok?"

"Sophie if he couldn't say a word in the first place it probably means he can't say one now."

"Hardison!"

"Dammit Hardison what did you do this time?"

He felt relieved that they knew he was alive and that he wasn't completely alone. Suddenly he gets picked up and thrown against the room to a wall. A man picks him up and starts beating the shit out of him. He tries not to scream, for the teams' sake. But that doesn't stop a few moans from slipping out.

"Hardison please stay with us ok? I don't know what they're doing but Nate and I are trying to find you as we speak, but you have a really good security system."

He smiled at this, only Parker would say something like that at a time like this. He looked at the men to see them furious.

"So you think this is funny? Huh? Well, maybe we should do something hilarious then."

Sick of all this big talk, Hardison spits in his face. The bulky man explodes and sits him in a chair and straps him down.

"Ready to have a good time buddy?"

Before he has any time to respond a sharp intense pain shoots up from his right hand. A blood curling scream leaves his mouth and he looks down to see a finger bent way out of shape. Next he take hold of Hardisons ring finger, and looks Hardison right in the eye before saying, "If you tell us who's working with you we will spare the rest of you." Looking up from his hand, Hardison stares daggers into 'Blacky's' eyes and doesn't say a word.

"Your funeral."

Pain explodes through Hardisons body, as Blacky breaks all 8 fingers and 2 thumbs. Throughout this Hardison screams silently and tears are threatening to flow down his face. The men back up and huddle together to talk about what to do next. Once Hardison has gotten some of his breath back he tries to focus on the voices coming into his ear.

"Hardison what's going on?"

"Is he ok?"

"Nate have you found him yet?

"Parker this is going to take some time. Elliot and I just got through his system and are about to search him up on the map. Hardison if you can hear me I need you to quietly tell me our passcode or else this could take more time then we have."

Hardison closes his eyes and whispers as quietly as possible, "3,9,14,68,42,5."

"Ok good Hardison."

There's silence for what seems like hours in Hardisons mind before Elliot yells, "We got his signal! Don't worry buddy we're coming for you."

Before he can respond we feels two fingers come up to his ear and take away his earpiece. Terrified he looks up to see Blacky drop the earpiece on the floor and stomp on it.

"So trying to talk to your friends are we? That's a very bad choice."

Hardison looks down at the now smashed earpiece, and realizes that now he won't have any comfort from anyone. He is now really and truly alone.

Blacky puts one hand on either side of Hardisons arm, and gives him one last chance to tell him who his team members are. Hardison knows this will be his last chance at living, but stays quite. His team is his life, and if he gave up his team that would include Parker, and he would die before letting her get killed by these men. So, for the first time since he got in that hell hole, he speaks a two letter word. "No."

Blacky smiles and says, wrong answer. Hardison screams as pressure comes on both sides of his arm and his elbow gets lifted upward. Finally, there's a snap and he lets out a horrifying scream that lasts at least 2 minutes. Tears stream freely down his face and his neck. He tastes the blood and the salty tears and knows it's the end. Taking the other arm, Blacky does the same process, and Hardison is swallowed by darkness. When he awakes there's a gun pointed at his head, and he hears the sound of it being loaded.

"It's been a blast." Blacky starts, "But I have other things to get done today."

Hardison closes his eyes again and says a quick prayer to god and a goodbye to Nana and Parker and the rest of the team. After he finishes he notices that the gun hasn't gone off yet, slowly looking up because his head is pounding, he sees Elliot kicking the crap out of Blacky and the two other men and Nate bending down in front of him. He barely makes out what Nate says before he is yet again, Swalled up by the darkness.


	3. Will he live?

**Leverage part 3**

The first thing that registered in Hardison was the constant beep coming from his left, or was it his right? Beeping every 2 or so seconds, it didn't take long for him to figure out that it was his heart monitor. Next was the thin sheet over top of him that felt like toilet paper. Since it was so thin and awful he got cold in a matter of minutes.

"Where am I?" Hardison asked himself, "What the hell happened to me?"

When all these questions were going through his mind he hadn't yet opened his eyes, so the petit blond girl setting on the chair next to the bed with her hand grasping his, had no idea he was awake. Praying that Hardison would live to see another day, she couldn't imagine living without him.

"Please Hardison wake up, don't die on me Hardison I love you!" Parker quietly said while looking at his sleeping figure. He looked so peaceful.

Hardison also felt something grasping his right hand, it felt small and smooth, like a-a woman's? He couldn't quite tell for sure, his brain was so foggy on what had happened. Wait, why was there casts on his arms and bandages all over his torso and face? Before he had time to open his eyes, he was again dragged into a deep sleep.

Parker was so lost in her thoughts she didn't realize the three other figures entering the room until Nate put his hand on her shoulder.

"Parker you need to go home and rest, you've been here for 3 days." His eyes were full of concern for her; she was like his only daughter.

"I can't leave, he might wake up and I don't want him to be alone." Her voice was full of sorrow and stress, how could this have happened to Hardison? Why hadn't she stopped him, she knew this was going to happen yet she didn't stop it!

"Honey," Sophie said in her English accent, "This isn't your fault, this isn't anyone's fault, it was a mistake that happened, and it will never happen again ok?"

Silence was thick in the room until Parker jumped up, "Don't you guys get it? It is my fault! All of it is my fault! I told him not to do this but I wasn't pushing it enough and he did it anyways! I knew this was going to happen yet I didn't do anything about it! So don't tell me it's not my fault that Hard- Mr. Green, Is lying in that bed fighting for his life!"

Everyone was shocked at this response. Finally Elliot spoke up, "What do you mean it was your fault Parker?"

She looked up with tears in her eyes and told them about her nightmare, and how everything was like her dream and that's why she didn't want the team to do the heist but no one listened. When she looked up she saw the concentrated look of Nate's face as he was trying to process what she had just said, and saw Sophie coming over to give her a hug. She tried to stop her, but when Sophie finally got her into a hug she broke down. Sophie just brushed her hair out of her face with her hand and saying calm words.

Hardison awoke again, and heard sobbing and someone trying to calm down the sobbing person. What's going on now? Taking it slowly, he opened his eyes to try to figure out what the heck was going on in his room. He saw a two men standing awkwardly at the foot of the bed, like they were waiting for something to stop or start. Looking to his right he saw to girls in a hug, one crying softly and one brushing away the tears and just holding her. Suddenly, all his memory of what had happened rushed to his mind, he saw the 4 people, the two men Nate and Elliot and the two girls Sophie and Parker. Parker, he saw them kissing in his apartment and snuggling on the couch while watching TV. The memories skipped to nighttime where Parker awoke suddenly from a nightmare. It skipped to a heist were he got beaten and broken down, until Nate and Elliot came to his rescue. Is that what happened, he thought afterwards, I got kidnapped and beaten? He took a deep breath, which apparently Parker could hear because she turned her head towards him and screamed.

"You're awake! Oh my god you're finally awake!" She said quite loudly, and ran towards him.

"Water." Was the only word Hardison could manage to get out of his mouth, he didn't notice how dry his throat was. Quickly Sophie grabbed his cup of water and put the straw to his mouth. He drank for at least a minute before stopping to take a breath. "What happened?"

Everyone looked at each other, and then to Parker, who was looking at the floor.

"You were taken by Mr. Henderson's' men while Sophie was in his office. They took you down to a cell were they," She paused for a moment and took a breath. Hardison tried to reach for her hand but when he tried a sharp pain spread through his body. She looked up at the pain in his face and tears came to her eyes. "They punched and kicked you until they saw you weren't breaking, and then broke your fingers. When they found the earpiece that got furious and broke your elbows, they were about to shoot you but Elliot and Nate got there just in time."

They all looked at Hardison, who was very quiet and looking at the ceiling. Finally he looked at Parker and smiled, "There's NOTHING you could've done to stop that from happening Mama, so I don't want you to keep that burden on your shoulders ok?"

She looked up with a couple tears running down her face, but Hardison just smiled. Parker nodded slightly before getting up and running from the room.

"Parker!" Hardison yelled after her.

"Leave her man, she'll be back." Elliot said confidently.

Hardisons eyes looked down sadly; he really needed her to know it wasn't her fault. While his eyes were open he looked around the room. It was a simple white room with curtains around his bed in case he ever needed privacy. Slowly he looked at himself; he had two huge casts on both arms from the shoulder down with 5 tiny splints on each finger for each hand. Trying to sit up he got very dizzy and lied back down.

"Don't try to sit up Hardison; you have a couple broken ribs so you won't be able to sit up for at least today." Sophie said quickly.

Alec looked from one to the other to the other, seeing all their sad expressions made him so depressed, he needed to go back to bed and forget all about this. "I need more sleep, I'll see you later." And turned his head away from them.

They all got the message and said there goodbyes, and left the room. Hardison closed his eyes and before long, he was asleep.

Parker sat with cold air pushing against her, she loved the cold air. It made her all frozen and not feel anything for a couple minutes. She looked out at the city, so many tall building and skyscrapers. Standing up, she took a deep breath that sent chills down her spines, and took off down the building. Down she went, past window after window, seeing nothing except the ground coming at a fast pace. Anyone watching would've thought she was going to fall to her death, but at the second floor, she sprung back by the help of her ropes. Smiling brightly she unhooked herself two stories up and let go, only to fall into a tree and land on the ground, safe and sound. Sighing, she walked back into the hospital to Hardisons room. It could only go up from here.

When she reached his room she saw he was sleeping peacefully. Her lips came up into a smile and she walked over to the chair she had placed next to him. After a while he awoke, and when he saw her he smiled, "Hey Mama."

"Hey yourself."

"How are you? You kind of bolted before I could ask you."

"I'm fine, but I'm more worried about how you're feeling."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be out of here before you know it, and back in the game in a couple months."

Parker smiled, he always knew how to make a bad situation sound just that little better. Then she got serious, "I was so scared Hardison."

"I know Parker, and I'm so sorry that you had to go through this."

"You could've died."

"But the thing is I didn't, I'm right here alive and, not so well." He chuckled to himself at that play of words, but Parker stayed serious, "You can't do that to me ever again."

"I won't Parker, I promise."

"You can't promise that, we never know what's going to happen."

"You're right. How about, I'll try as hard as I can so that will never happen again?"

"Ok Alec." She reached over and kissed him. They sat in silence for a while before Parker spoke up, "Ava."

Hardison looked up confused, "What?"

"My name's Ava."

He looked at her and smiled, "I think Ava is a beautiful name for a beautiful person."

Parker smiled before saying, "Move over," and getting in bed beside Hardison.

She cuddled into him before falling asleep for the first time in 3 days. Hardison looked at her thought to himself, "I'm the luckiest guy in the whole entire world.

For the next 2 weeks the team came in everyday to visit Hardison in the Hospital, the only person whoever stayed there was Parker, and she only left to have showers and get into different clothes. On the last day before being let go, Parker noticed how down Hardison looked.

"What's wrong Alec?"

"Huh? Oh nothing." He said with a smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Common I know something is wrong, why aren't you jumping out of your bed? You're going home tomorrow."

"I know it's just," He paused, trying to get the right words to form, "It's just I don't know what I'm going to do now, I mean I can't do anything for another 2 months or so."

Parker walked over to Hardison and looked at him with a look she must've learned from Sophie, "Oh, we'll think of 'something' do to while you're on house arrest," before going back to pack up his things.

"Woman, you're going to be the death of me," he said sighing, before smiling and looking at the door.

Suddenly a man appeared, and he didn't look like a visitor.

"Can I help you?" Parker said, looking at him confused,

"Oh, I just came to do some 'unfinished' business." Both Hardison and Parker confused, they didn't know what was going on until they saw the 39mm gun being pulled out from under his jacket.

"A message from Blacky, he never leaves lose ends when he's sent to do something."

Before he can pull the trigger, Elliot comes out of nowhere and twists his neck and the way that you know he's dead.

"Dammit Hardison, I leave you for 2 hours and already you're trying to get yourself killed again?"

"Yes Elliot I defiantly called the hit man again to come and actually killed me." He looked at Elliot with such sarcasm Elliot just scoffed and looked out the hall, "We better get you outta here now."

So, with the help of Elliot and Parker, they wheeled him down to the main floor and into Nate's car.

"What the hell is he doing here? He's not supposed to leave until tomorrow morning."

"Little problem with security, let's just say Mr. Henderson doesn't like leaving loose ends."

Not fully understanding, Nate stepped on the gas pedal and sped down towards the HQ, to get the full story of what's going on.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

When they finally made it to Nate's apartment Elliot carried Hardison, with a lot of grumbling and mumbling, and put him on the couch. Taking a deep breath, Hardison closed his eyes and started to fall asleep.

"Oh no you don't," Nate said while shaking Hardisons arm, "You guys still have to explain to me what the hell's going on."

His eyes shot open with the pain that began to shoot up his arms.

"Nate!" Parker said quickly, "Hardison is still injured don't shake him like that!" Quickly Nate pulled his hands off of Hardison who immediately relaxed. Just, tell me what happened Nate said quietly. Talking with immense speed, Parker and Elliot began reliving the various events that had led them here. After they had finished, silence filled the room.

"Well," Nate finally said, "I guess someone's going to have to be with Hardison 24/7."

The room nodded in agreement, and before anyone could volunteer to take first shift, Parker spoke up.

"Well, I could take first shift since I'm already pretty awake. Besides, You Elliot and Sophie have been worried sick all week, you need rest."

They all nodded in agreement, and Elliot offered to help get Hardison back to his apartment. So with some weak hugs (To not hurt Hardison) and goodbyes, the three drove over to Alec's apartment. Elliot picked up Hardison and dumped him on his bed. Before leaving he asked Parker, "Are you sure you're going to be okay by yourself Parker?" Nodding, Parker smiled and watched him walk down the stairs. Turning around, she walked into Hardisons room and stopped at the foot of the bed.

"Hey Mama, what's up?"

"Nothing, I'm just glad you're alive." Parker said with a half-smile.

"You can't get rid of me that easily!"

"Don't be so sure, Alec. You almost died hell I saw the lights die out in your eyes. Don't you dare tell me that you can't die easily don't you dare! I…I…I don't know what to do with you Hardison! First you tell me you love me and that nothing will happen to you, and then you go and do that! Why do you have to be so stupid! I….I…..I…." she tried to say love put it felt as if it were choking her. "I…I LOVE YOU GOD DAMMIT!"

He looked at her shockingly, no words forming in his brain. Finally, he took a deep breath, and waved her to him. Hesitantly, she walked over to the side of the bed where Elliot placed him. With a shaky arm, he grabbed her hand. It felt rough and cold, nothing like Hardisons hands. Using all the energy he could muster up, he gently pulled her down beside him. She carefully laid her head on his chest, and with the tips of his fingers, he slowly combed her hair. These small gestures caused Parker to break down. She wept and wept and Hardison just laid there putting his fingers through her hair.

She woke up cold. Turning her head, she didn't feel or notice Hardison anywhere in the room. She jumped up quickly and ran to the living room, then the dining room, finally she entered the spare bedroom. She gasped, and all she saw was red. Red covered the sheets, the walls, the floor, and in the back corner was Hardison. Running over to him, she thought he was dead but then she realized he was shaking vigorously.

"Hardison!" She yelled, "Hardison wake up!"

He shook awake, and backed up against the wall.

"Get away from me! Don't come any closer! Get the hell away from me!"

Parker gasped and backed away, before coming closer and slowly calming him down.

"Hardison what happened?"

He looked up, and started crying and explaining everything. He said that in the middle of the night two more of Henderson's men showed up with guns. They pulled him out of the bed and dragged him to the other bedroom so not to wake her up. He explained how that something snapped inside him and that the last thing he remembers is blood all over the room. After he was done nothing was said, and finally Parker leaned in and hugged him. Hardison relaxed into the embrace, and cried more until everything inside him was out. After a while Parker picked up Hardison and brought him to the bathroom, there he cleaned off the blood and stripped him of his clothes. Going into his room she grabbed his polar bear pajamas and dressed him properly. Once done, she brought him to the couch and laid him down; putting on some Doctor Who she sat beside him and rubbed his arm, letting him completely relax.

It had been two months since that accident, and Hardison had made a full recovery. Parker and Hardison kept seeing each other, and all though the team had their suspicions, they never really knew if it was official. Parker had pretty much moved into his apartment, most of her things were scattered around the floor and she had stopped sneaking around everyone else's houses to get other things.

Today was Saturday, which meant that today was their lazy day. Lying on the couch, Parker was half on the couch, half on Hardisons chest, she liked the way her head bobbled up and down as his chest took in air. She had almost fallen asleep when Hardison got up to get another orange soda.

"Mmmmmnnnn," Parker let out like a moan, "Now why'd you go and do that Alec?"

Laughing, he shook his head before kissing her on the head and quickly going to the kitchen. She smiled to herself, and closed her eyes and sighed contently. Her head suddenly lifted up, and she laughed as Hardison tried to gracefully slide back into the couch.

"You suck at getting onto a couch smoothly."

"Now woman, I'd like to see you try and get on this couch without bumping my head a few times!"

"Is that a challenge Mr. Alec sir?"

"Why yes, a matter of fact it is Ms. Uhm, Ms. Whatever your first name is."

She smiled and got off the couch.

"Lay where I just was, and prepare to be amazed."

Gracefully obliging, Hardison quickly moved into her spot and closed her eyes. After a few minutes he still didn't feel anything,

"I win Parker! You didn't do it at….." He turned his head and saw Parker lying there, smiling.

"So _sweetie, _what do I get for winning this very lame challenge?"

Smiling, Hardison pulled himself onto Parker and kissed her soundly. Her hands came up around his neck and his arms slowly went under her shirt. She pulled him closer and dragged her fingers through his hair, while Hardison brought his hands up to her shoulder blades. He started nibbling at her ear, then her neck, and slowly made his way down her stomach. Once he had started kissing her stomach, Parker grabbed Hardison and pulled him back up to her lips. With one swift movement Parker took off Hardisons shirt and started working on his belt.

"Parker," Hardison said against Parkers lips, "Parker shouldn't we take this to the bedroom?"

"No," Parker said breathlessly, "I've never on the couch before, this should be fun!"

Hardison started laughing, his broad shoulders shaking up and down, "I love you Mama."

She smiled against his lips, "I love you too, pretzels."

_**The End.**_


End file.
